Dish is said to have 14 million subscribers, though not all of them were AMC viewers, as the network, which reaches 97 million U.S. households overall, was not offered in the service's most basic package.

Rather than fall victim to the Dish blackout, it's possible Breaking Bad benefitted from the Netflix effect just like its network sibling Mad Men.

The retro drama's most recent season was its most-watched, something that's been attributed to that series' entire catalog of past episodes being available on Netflix streaming, just as Breaking Bad's are.

Meanwhile, there's been no glaring ratings impact on the Viacom-owned cable networks, including MTV and Nick, which lost its DirecTV base last week amid similar circumstances to the AMC vs. Dish war.